Fright Night - The Guardian
by Snowcrystal-princess
Summary: When Charley's mother dies and Jerry surprisingly becomes Charley's guardian...they both go through a rocky and at times, deadly experience together during Charley's transition from a minor to an adult.
1. Chapter I

**~ Chapter I ~**

* * *

It was a Friday evening when seventeen year old Charley Brewster came speeding his car up to the front of his house, 80's music blaring from it. As Charley turned his engine off and whistled as he got out of the car, books in hand, he strolled up the steps of his mother's house, unlocked the door and went inside.

"Mom! I'm home!" Charley called as he dropped his keys on a table by the door. The house was quiet - eerily quiet.

"Mom?" Charley called out as he walked into the living room. Immediately, he stopped in his tracks at the sight in front of him.

"Mom?" Charley called out as he saw his mother lying across the sofa, eyes closed, resembling someone who was lifeless. As Charley dropped the books in his hand, rushed over to his mother and shook her, tears filled his eyes, tears of fear.

"Mom? Mom!" Charley yelled out as he shook his mother with force. "Mom! Mom no!"

Immediately, Charley jumped up and ran to the phone, picked it up and dialed. The three ring tones he heard on the other end of the line felt like ringing tones that went on for hours before he heard someone's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello 9-1-1 what's your emergency?" A female voice said on the other end of the line.

"My - my mom, she's - she's unconscious," Charley said with a tearful voice and with tears streaming from his eyes. "She's - she's - oh God I think she's dead!"

"Ok sir, what's your name and address?" The operator replied as Charley dropped down to his knees and broke into sobs. "Sir?"

Charley couldn't even respond, all he could do was remain there, on his knees, in sobs, knowing, _feeling_ that his life would never be the same again.

* * *

 **~ Later ~**

As Charley sat on the steps of his mother's home, his hands clasped together in front of his mouth, the lights of the police and paramedics illuminated Oak Street. Charley's mind was racing with thoughts, thoughts and memories of his mother, the last conversation he had with his mother that morning, a conversation over his last Trigonometry test. As Charley replayed he and his mother's last conversation in his mind, he closed his eyes shut with a hurt frown, as tears streamed down from his closed eyes. He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that just that morning, she was alive, alive and fine and now, now she was gone. Not only that but now Charley had no one, no family, except distant ones whom he didn't know well at all. His mother was an only child and his grandparents had both died when Charley was just six years old. So who would take care of him now? Before Charley could think of anything else, he heard the clicking of wheels behind him, and as he looked behind him, he saw two men wheeling his mother's body, which was in a zipped up body bag, on a stretcher down the steps of the house. As the two men were wheeling the body towards the coroner van, Charley jumped up.

"Wait!" Charley said as he ran over to his mother's body. "Let me say goodbye."

As one of the men wheeling the body nodded to Charley, Charley unzipped the body bag and stared at his mother's lifeless body with tearful eyes, within seconds he broke down into light sobs before kissing her on the forehead.

"I love you mom." Charley said tearfully.

As one of the men wheeling the body zipped the body bag back up and as both men continued wheeling the body away, Charley stared on, once again with streaming tears.

* * *

Next door, Billy was standing on the front porch, watching the entire situation. A few seconds later, Jerry walked out onto the front porch and over to Billy.

"What's going on out here?" Jerry asked.

"The kid's mother croaked." Billy said with a brief, faint smirk and a shake of his head.

Jerry shot a look over at Billy with instant shock.

"Charley's mother?" Jerry asked. "When was this?"

Billy shrugged.

"Who knows," Billy replied, "but the paramedics and police have been out here for a while now.

Jerry sighed as he stood there watching the situation next door, as much as he despised Charley, he had to admit he felt a little sympathy for the kid, losing his mother. For Jerry knew what it was like to lose a parent. He not only lost his mother but his father as well, back when he was a mortal, four hundred years ago, and it was devastating to him. So he knew the grief of losing a parent all too well.

* * *

As Charley was about to turn and walk back in the house, an officer walked up after him and grabbed his arm.

"Ok you're going to come with me," the officer said.

Charley yanked away from the officer with sharpness.

"What?" Charley snapped. "No why?"

"You're under eighteen," the officer replied, "you can't stay here by yourself, you're a minor, so we're taking you to a nice temporary place -"

"You mean a foster home!" Charley snapped. "I'm not going to some foster home, are you nuts?! I can take care of myself!"

"No you can not!" The officer retorted. "You're a minor -"

"I'm SEVENTEEN!" Charley snapped.

"You're still a minor!" The cop snapped back, "and since you are, I have no other choice but to take you to Sherman's Home, until we can reach a relative who can take you in their care. Now it's a nice foster home -"

"No!" Charley snapped. "I'm not going!"

"Officer wait, what are you doing? I'm his uncle and I live next door. Charley called me and told me what happened and I rushed straight home from work. I'll take guardianship over him from here." Jerry said as he walked up behind Charley.

Immediately Charley turned around and stared at Jerry as if he were nuts. The officer did as well as he raised an eyebrow at Jerry in slight disbelief.

"You're this kid's uncle?" The officer asked.

"Yeah so he can come stay at my home." Jerry replied while staring dead on into the officer's eyes.

Charley stared at Jerry in disbelief, disbelief at how quickly he came up with such an intricate lie.

"Well," the officer said with a sigh and a slight shake of his head. "alright and what's your full name and number sir?"

"Um Jerry Dandrige," Jerry replied, "the number's 555-1247."

The officer nodded as he wrote on a small notepad.

"Good," the officer replied. "I'll give your information to CPS for them to take further steps in guardianship. Charley, I'm sorry for your loss."

As the officer turned and walked away, Charley's eyes remain locked on Jerry, locked in a complete state of disbelief.

"What the hell did you just do?" Charley snapped.

"I saved you from being dragged away to some crappy foster home," Jerry replied. "You're welcome, come on, you can stay at my place for the night."

"What, are you crazy? Hell no." Charley snapped.

"What do you mean no?" Jerry replied. "You have to, you heard him -"

"You're a VAMPIRE Jerry! An evil son of a bitch at that, there's no way I'm staying with you!" Charley snapped.

"Oh alright and what if an officer comes back here later tonight? Then what Charley?" Jerry snapped. "Look I'm just trying to - be nice and - help you -"

"Well take your help and SHOVE it." Charley snapped. "I didn't need your help a few minutes and I don't WANT it now. Just leave me the hell alone."

Before Jerry could say anything else, Charley turned and stormed off towards his house, going inside and slamming the door behind him, as Jerry stared on with a look of slight hurt. As billy walked up behind Jerry and patted Jerry on the back, Jerry looked down and to his left with a scoff and a shake of his head.

"You alright Jerr?" Billy asked.

Jerry continued staring at Charley's house, a conflicted expression forming slightly on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jerry lied before turning and walking away, back towards his own house.


	2. Chapter II

**~ Chapter II ~**

* * *

As Charley sat across from Amy and Ed in the cafeteria of Cushing High School, Charley was barely listening to what Amy and Ed were saying, his mind was roaming through numerous thoughts, thoughts and feelings.

"Charley?" Amy said. "Did you hear what I said?"

Charley looked up at Amy and shook his head, trying to clear the present thoughts from his mind.

"No what?" Charley asked.

Amy glanced over at Ed and both Ed and Amy gave resembling looks, looks of worry.

"I said, what's going to happen now?" Amy asked. "Are you really going to have Jerry as your guardian?"

"NO." Charley snapped. "I wouldn't even have him as my damn - house sitter."

"Well what about Peter?" Ed asked.

"He lives in California now." Charley said. "So he can't. Amy, Ed, you both sure your parents wouldn't -"

"Nope, not my dad." Ed said with a laugh. "He's so mean, I'm surprised he still lets me live there."

"Amy?" Charley asked with pleading eyes.

"Oh Charley," Amy said with a sympathetic stare. "You know I love you but with us dating, my parents would never let you stay in the same house with me. I mean you know how my father is already."

Charley sighed with anger.

"Damn it," Charley whispered. "What am I going to do? CPS called this morning and left a message on the machine saying that they would be over Jerry's house tonight to do a home visit since he told that officer he was my guardian -"

"So then why don't you just let him be your guardian Brewster?" Ed asked.

"What?!" Charley snapped. "Are you nuts Evil? I mean have you forgotten that he's a vampire? A disgusting, blood sucking monster -"

"Yeah but he also the only choice you have right now Charley." Amy replied. "Besides it's only for the rest of this year. You turn eighteen two days before graduation and when you do, you'll be an adult and can go on your own then."

"NO," Charley retorted. "Absolutely not -"

"Then what are you going to do Charley?" Amy asked. "Huh? How are you going to deal with this? How are you going to handle CPS coming tonight?"

Charley sat back and sighed with a troubled frown. He had no idea how he would handle it. He didn't know what he was going to do, he was conflicted, and the bad part of it all was the fact that he only had a short amount of hours _to_ figure out what he was going to do - before the arrival of CPS.

* * *

 **~ End Of Chapter II ~**

 **Up Next: Chapter III**


	3. Chapter III

**~ Chapter III ~**

* * *

As Charley pulled up in front of what was now his home, and turned off his car engine, he sighed with a bit of depression, depression and worry. What was he going to do? He only had approximately forty-five minutes to think of something before a representative of CPS came and evaluated the home of his guardian - the problem was that Charley didn't have a guardian, and he cringed at the thought of having Jerry be his guardian, but at this point, did he even have a choice? As he briefly closed his eyes with a sigh, he jumped out of his car, slammed his driver's side door shut and forced himself over to Jerry's house. Shit, he hated that this was his only choice, but he heard enough horror stories about foster homes to know that he definitely didn't want to spend his last year as a minor there. As Charley knocked on Jerry's house door, his heart was pounding like a bullet, not out of nervousness but half out of hatred and half out of adrenaline. When Jerry opened the door, Charley made sure to give Jerry a look that let him know how much he despised him.

"Um - CPS is coming in forty-five minutes." Charley said. "I - need you to play my guardian one more time."

Jerry stared at Charley with what Charley was sure was a smirk.

"I thought you said you didn't need my help." Jerry replied.

Charley sighed as he rolled his eyes at Jerry.

"I thought I didn't," Charley replied, "but I do."

Jerry stepped aside with a single nod and ushered Charley in.

"Oh, wait, you better get some of your stuff from your room next door and bring it over." Jerry said. "It can go in the main guest room upstairs and - "

"I'm NOT staying here." Charley snapped. "This is only for CPS, then once they leave, I'm going back home and thankfully I'll never have to talk to you again."

Jerry smirked at Charley with amusement.

"Oh, really?" Jerry replied. "Charley, let me inform you of the process that's about to happen. A CPS representative is going to come here and do a home visit, and then after that, there's a court date of which I - your guardian will have to attend, and upon me attending, the judge will then grant me legal guardianship. Now if I don't go before the judge on the court date, they'll find out why, the why being that I'm not your guardian and you get shipped to a foster home. Now you don't really want that, do you Charley?"

Charley frowned in anger at him.

"Why the hell do you even care?!" Charley snapped. "You were ready to kill me just six months ago, now all of a sudden, you care? Well don't! You're unable to care in the first place because all you are is - a damn dead vampire!"

As Jerry stared at him, with a slight look of offense and a touch of hurt, Billy walked into the hallway where they were.

"You're right, I shouldn't care," Jerry said as he walked to his front door and opened it. "Get out."

Charley stared at Jerry with a look of slight disbelief.

"Yeah whatever," Charley snapped. "Look -"

"I said GET OUT." Jerry replied with anger.

With a look of anger, Charley scoffed, shook his head and stormed out, resulting in Jerry slamming the door shut on him. As Jerry stood with his back to Billy, he didn't want to turn around, because he knew he would meet Billy's eyes, Billy's critical eyes.

"Jerry," Billy began, "why -"

"DON'T." Jerry interrupted as he turned and walked past Billy.

"Jerry, what is going on with you?" Billy asked as he grabbed hold of Jerry's arm.

Jerry sighed and yanked his arm away.

"Why are you trying to help this kid?" Billy asked. "He's a little pathetic maggot, who - if you remember it or not, almost got us in trouble with the police -"

"I KNOW Billy alright?" Jerry snapped.

"Then what's going ON here?" Billy asked.

Jerry sighed as he glanced down with a brief frown.

Back when I was - mortal," Jerry began, "I was eleven, Regine was six, our parents were murdered, the night before Christmas. Regine and I were both devastated, especially Regine. However what hurt the most was when we were separated and had to work as indentured servants, me for six years and Regine for eleven years, and for all those years, we were separated, it was horrible, horrible for the both of us. So, I don't know, perhaps Charley's situation hit home for me."

Before Billy could respond, Jerry shrugged and walked away towards the living room, but as he got to the living room entrance, three knocks came at his door. When Billy went to open the door, he saw Charley standing on the doorstep.

"Um, i'm - sorry." Charley said without looking Billy in the eyes.

As Jerry turned and looked back at Charley, Charley walked inside and over to him.

"Look um - I'm - sorry alright?" Charley said. "I - don't want to go into - some damn foster home. I've heard the stories and I refuse to go there. So - I guess what I'm saying is - you can - be my guardian - just until I turn eighteen, which is in June."

Jerry nodded with an eyebrow raised.

"But I want to keep my mother's house." Charley said. "She put in her will for me to have it, so I'm keeping it. I'm not selling it or anything -"

"I wouldn't want you to sell it Charley." Jerry replied. "So fine then, I think this arrangement will go along just fine with - "

"Ok so I'm going to bring a few things over that will tide me over for the next two weeks or so. I'll be back." Charley said, interrupting Jerry and turning and walking out before Jerry could say another word.

As Charley walked out of the house, Jerry stood there thinking, thinking about how exactly he would pull off being the guardian to a mortal human, when he himself was immortal. Despite what Jerry told Billy, Jerry still didn't quite understand just why he was helping Charley, he knew there had to be something that was driving him to want to help Charley, but he just didn't know what that something was.

* * *

 **~ End Of Chapter III ~**

 **Up Next: Chapter IV**


	4. Chapter IV

**~ Chapter IV ~**

* * *

Much later when Charley arrived back over to Jerry's house, with his belongings, it was Billy who showed him the guest room where he would be staying, and surprisingly the room was nice and spacious, with a bed bigger than his in his room in his mother's home. A medium sized television sat a few feet away from the bed. Despite the room being big and nice, it had a dry, musty smell to it. After Charley finished unsettling in his room, he dashed downstairs where he walked up on a short, stumpy lady with glasses and her hair in a bun, wearing a brown skirt suit and looking to be in her late fifties. Her name was Mrs. Williams and she was talking to Jerry by the front door. She had arrived a good thirty-five minutes before Charley had arrived back at Jerry's house.

"So, that's the gist of it for now." Mrs. Williams said while writing on a clipboard in her hand. "And, ah, here's Charley. Hi son, how are you holding up?"

Charley gave a quick glance at Jerry, who was staring at him with intensity, before nodding and looking away from Jerry.

"I'm - coping, the best I can." Charley replied in a low voice.

Mrs. Williams patted Charley on the shoulder with a smile.

"Good son," Mrs. Williams replied. "You're lucky to have Jerry here as your guardian. He's been speaking so highly of you during the entire time I've been here, so I think you'll be in good hands with him."

Charley shot a look over at Jerry in disbelief.

"Really?" Charley asked. "He said - all good things? That's surprising, considering that it's coming from Jerry."

In an instant Jerry flashed Charley an look of anger. There was Charley's fiery attitude again, and it caught the attention of Mrs. Williams, as she shot a confused stare over at Jerry, to which Jerry quickly contrived a smirk.

"Ah yes," Jerry said, his eyes slowly shifting over to Mrs. Williams, "Charley knows I don't like to brag about him. I'm very modest is what he means."

"Ah I see." Mrs. Williams said with a laugh and a nod, to which Jerry contrived a brief laugh as well. "Well, Mr. Dandridge, I will be in touch regarding a court date and you have a wonderful night. You too Charley."

"Thank you Mrs. Williams," Jerry said as he opened the front door for her. "I look forward to hearing back from you."

As soon as Jerry closed the door after Mrs. Williams walked out, Charley turned to walk away.

"Hey wait," Jerry said, "are you going up to rest? Because if so, before you do, let me fix you a quick meal -"

"I'm not hungry." Charley said coldly as he continued walking towards the stairway.

Quickly Jerry walked after him and stepped in front of him, blocking him from getting up the stairs.

"Hey wait," Jerry snapped. "Look you think you could try dropping that attitude of yours?"

"Or what Jerry?" Charley snapped. "You'll turn me into the four hundred year old blood sucking bat that you are?"

Jerry rolled his eyes and sighed as Charley smirked briefly.

"You're repulsive." Charley said before pushing Jerry to the side and walking up the stairs. Immediately Jerry grabbed Charley's arm and pulled him with force back towards him, a move that made Charley jump for a second in fear.

"I offered to be your guardian, but don't PUSH it Charley." Jerry snapped while staring directly in Charley's eyes. "Are we clear?"

Charley yanked his arm away with anger while staring at Jerry with attitude.

"Crystal." Charley snapped before rolling his eyes and storming up the rest of the stairs.

* * *

As Jerry walked into the kitchen, he saw Billy by the kitchen island fixing two, bologna sandwiches. When Billy saw Jerry, he smiled briefly.

"Hey," Billy said, "I thought the kid might want dinner so -"

"Kid?" Jerry asked with a roll of his eyes. "More like a smart mouthed - teenage runt"

"He's still giving you a hard time huh?" Billy asked.

Jerry sighed as he sat down at a nearby table with a shake of his head.

"I don't know Billy. I mean I - just don't know if I can deal with his attitude for a year without killing him I swear." Jerry replied.

"Oh come on Jerry," Billy said, "all teens are like that. Besides, maybe it's because his mother JUST died yesterday. I mean he's in the middle of the grieving process right now, you of all people should know that. Give him some time to come around."

"Yeah." Jerry said before sighing.

Billy walked over and handed Jerry the plate of sandwiches.

"Here, go up and give this to him." Billy said. "He'll thank you for it - maybe not tonight but..."

Billy stopped as Jerry laughed, which resulted in Billy laughing as well.

* * *

As Jerry walked up onto the second floor with the plate of sandwiches, Jerry stopped a few feet away from Charley's closed door, as he heard light, muffled noise from inside the room. As Jerry slowly walked over to the door and creaked it open, he saw Charley sitting at a desk with his back turned to the door, sobbing. There was no doubt in Jerry's mind what Charley was sobbing over, of course, and in that moment, Jerry felt a sting of sympathy for the young teen. As quiet as he could, Jerry walked in and placed the plate of sandwiches on a small table by the door and turned to walk out - but not before looking back at Charley with one last stare of sympathy. Jerry wanted to go over and console Charley the way he wished someone had consoled him and Regine when they were children, grieving over their parents' death, but Jerry decided not to, now wasn't the time. Charley needed his time alone at that moment, he needed his alone time to grieve, and that's just what Jerry gave him, as he stepped further out of the room, closing the bedroom door behind him.

* * *

 **~ The Next Morning ~**

It was seven-thirty in the morning when Charley, fully dressed for school, walked into Jerry's kitchen and turned on the radio, with the song " _Armies Of The Night_ " by Sparks blasting from the radio. With a yawn, Charlie walked over to the fridge, opened it and grabbed a carton of orange juice out. He walked over to the counter, open the cabinet, grabbed a glass out and poured orange juice into it. Just as Charley was about to take a sip of the orange juice, the song on the radio changed to " _Little Bitty Pretty One_ ", a 50's song by Thurston Harris - one of Charley's mother's favorite songs in fact.

Instantly upon hearing the song, it sent Charley into a mental flashback, a flashback of when he was seven years old and his mother would dance with him around the kitchen to that very song. As Charley closed his eyes and envisioned the memory more, he could see the flashback even more perfectly now. He could even hear the laughter he shared with his mother as she held his hands in hers and swung him around the kitchen while dancing. He could remember perfectly how the outside sunshine from the kitchen window illuminated her face with radiance as they danced around the kitchen. The memory was so strong and vivid for him, that he didn't even hear his name being called from behind him.

"Hello? CHARLEY?!" Billy called from behind Charley.

As Charley opened his eyes that were filled with tears, tears that were now streaming as Charley broke out of his flashback remembrance within an instant and turned to look at Billy.

"Oh, yeah, what? What is it?" Charley asked with sharpness as he wiped his streaming tears away quickly.

"Charley it's seven-thirty in the morning and you're blasting music in here." Billy said with upset. "Why?"

Charley stared at him as if he were nuts.

"It's a school day Billy." Charley said with attitude.

"So this is what you do usually when you're getting ready for school?" Billy asked. "Blare music loudly throughout your house, waking your mother up at the crack of dawn?"

Charley looked at him with instant anger.

"Don't you ever speak one word about my mother again." Charley snapped with a roll of his eyes before pushing past Billy and walking out of the kitchen.

Billy scoffed with a shake of his head before turning and walking out after Charley, with Charley bumping into Jerry in the hallway.

"Charley oh hey, was that you blaring that loud music?" Jerry asked, looking half asleep.

Charley sighed with a roll of his eyes.

"I was, now I'm not. I'm off to school, bye." Charley snapped before walking around Jerry.

"School?" Jerry asked. "Well actually I thought you'd stay home so we can plan your mother's funeral -"

Jerry stopped as Charley stopped dead in his tracks with his back to Jerry and Billy. As Charley looked down and to his right, he shut his eyes tight with a frown. The word " _funeral_ " meant that his mother was gone, _truly gone_.

"I - can't - now." Charley forced himself to spew out after a few seconds of silence. "I'll do it this evening."

"Well I thought that Billy and I would help you," Jerry said. "I mean -"

"NO." Charley shouted strongly, almost with a hint of emotion. "She was my mother, you two didn't know her. I'll get started on planning it myself when I get home."

Jerry sighed, slightly irritated.

"What? Charley no," Billy said, "look come on -"

Billy stopped as Charley angrily opened the door to the house and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

"Still want to be his guardian?" Billy joked with a smile to Jerry before chuckling and turning to walk away.

Jerry's patience was running thin with Charley, it was running thin with Charley _fast_. Grieving or not, there was one thing Jerry was not going to tolerate, and that was disrespect, especially _continued_ disrespect from some seventeen year old kid who wasn't even his own son. Jerry was sure that one more rude, attitude-filled conversation with Charley was going to make him snap and become the rabid, vicious monster that Charley had never seen him become, and that for Charley's sake, Jerry hoped would _never_ appear, but it was coming close, _dangerously_ close to a very short tipping point for Jerry.

* * *

 **~ End Of Chapter IV ~**

 **Up Next: Chapter V**


	5. Chapter V

**Theme Song: "Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do" ~ Fright Night II Soundtrack**

 **A** s Jerry and Charley walked in the house, returning from Charley's mother's funeral, all Charley felt was tiredness. Over the last, past, few days, he felt as if he had been running on empty, planning, grieving, fighting back the concern of Jerry, and then back to grieving again. He needed rest, his mind needed rest, and more than that, he needed a bit more alone time, to grasp the fact that his mother was truly gone, to have that resonate in his mind permanently so that he could thrive on in the days, weeks, months and even years to come of the rest of his life.

So as Charley was was about to walk to the stairway, he stopped and glanced back at Jerry, not feeling the desire to look him in the eyes.

"Um, thanks for bringing me back," Charley said in a low tone. "Goodnight."

"Wait, do you want something on your stomach before you go to bed?" Jerry replied.

Charley scoffed with a shake of his head. How could he even think of food at that moment. All he had on his mind was the worry of how he would cope without his mother being there with him.

"No, goodnight." Charley replied, almost roughly before going up the stairs.

* * *

 **A** s Jerry watched up dash up the stairs, Jerry felt a pang of sadness for Charley. Jerry knew exactly what Charley was suffering through, Jerry could feel it, the essence of Charley's pain was so strong that Jerry, being the vampire that he was, could even almost smell it on Charley, engulfing him; And for the first time, for the first time in over four hundred years, light tears stung the back of Jerry's eyes, the same tears that he felt stinging his eyes the day he and Regine found out that their parents were gone, never to be seen by their eyes again.

* * *

As Charley walked into the dark bedroom of his and closed the door behind him, he slid down to the floor, up against the door, clutched his knees to his chest, closed his eyes and listened to the silence, the frightening, grieving silence of being alone. As he had his eyes closed, he pictured his mother's bright, glowing, beautiful face, that smile that she had that could brighten the darkest room, warm the coldest heart. He pictured her bright, gray eyes of hers. Her voice, he could hear her voice in his ears, he could hear it all around him, as if she were in the room with him right then and there. The feeling, the remembering nostalgia overwhelmed Charley so much that he broke down into sobs, harder sobs than when he was at her funeral earlier, and the more he cried, the more he could feel the pain, the grief being released from him, leaving him so that he could - heal.


	6. Chapter VI

**Theme Song: "Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do" ~ Fright Night II Soundtrack**

 **I** t was around nine on Sunday morning when Charley awakened in bed. After sitting up in bed and letting out a morning yawn, he swung his legs out of bed and was about to get up - then he felt it. His hand touched a small, glass object on the bed. As he looked over at what his hand was touching, he saw a small, rectangular glass vial filled with blood. The vial was a made into a necklace with a thick, black cord looped through a tiny hole at the top of the vial. What this was Charley wasn't sure, but seeing as how the vial was filled with blood, he was almost sure who it was from. With quickness, Charley jumped up out of bed, ran to his bedroom door and ran out. As he rushed downstairs and into the kitchen, he saw Jerry and Billy sitting at the table talking.

"Oh, look who's up." Billy said with a smile.

Jerry looked back and Charley and smiled.

"Oh morning, Charley," Jerry replied with a smile. "How did you sleep?"

"What the hell is this, Jerry?!" Charley snapped while holding the vial necklace in front of Jerry's eyes to see.

Jerry's smile disappeared and he and Billy exchanged stares that looked as if they were both deer caught in headlights.

"Oh um, Charley, sit down and let me talk to you for a minute." Jerry said.

"No, just tell me what this is." Charley snapped. "Is this blood from some girl you killed?"

"No, it's blood from your mother - Charley." Billy said with an attitude type smirk.

"What?!" Charley snapped.

"Billy, would you give us a moment?" Jerry asked.

Billy shrugged and nodded before getting up and walking out.

"Tell me you didn't get this from my mother?!" Charley snapped. "How?! Why?!"

"I did it to help you." Jerry replied. "I -"

"Help me?!" Charley cut in. "Help me how?! You sick bastard! My mother isn't one of your victims! She was my mother and you - where's the rest of her blood?! What, do you have that in some storage in the basement for your casual feedings - "

"Charley stop!" Jerry shouted with anger. "I went to the funeral home where her body was prepared and I took some of her blood just to put in that vial for you! So that you would have a piece of her with you - whenever, where ever, just like Regine and I had with our parents. We each had vials of our parents' blood and we wore it everyday for eighteen years - until we - became what we are today. It helped us during our grieving, it made us feel that they never really left us and were still there. So I went and got some of your mother's blood for you, so you could have a part of her with you, and so you would see that you're not alone, because she's still with you."

Charley stared down at the vial necklace in his hand and frowned with emotion.

"That's all I did, Charley." Jerry continued. "I just didn't want you feeling that emptiness that Regine and I felt after losing our parents."

"Wow. Thank you," Charley said in a low tone. "I'm sorry I jumped down your throat. I appreciate this. I really do."

"You don't have to thank me," Jerry replied. "We're friends, remember?"

Charley looked away and smirked as Jerry pulled him into a light, brief hug.


End file.
